From this point on no attempt will
be made to preserve a chronological order, but the
principal classes of sculpture belonging to the
Hellenistic period will be illustrated, each by two or
three examples. Religious sculpture may be put first.
Here the chief place belongs to the Aphrodite of Melos,
called the Venus of Milo.

This statue was found by
accident in 1820 on the island of Melos (Milo) near the
site of the ancient city. According to the best evidence
available, it was lying in the neighborhood of its
original pedestal, in a niche of some building. Near it
were found a piece of an upper left arm and a left hand
holding an apple; of these two fragments the former
certainly and perhaps the latter belong to the statue.
The prize was bought by M. de Riviere, French ambassador
at Constantinople, and presented by him to the French
king, Louis XVIII.

The same vessel which conveyed it to
France brought some other marble fragments from Melos,
including a piece of an inscribed statue- base with an
artist's inscription, in characters of the second
century B.C. or later. A drawing exists of this
fragment, but the object itself has disappeared, and in
spite of much acute argumentation it remains uncertain
whether it did or did not form a part of the basis of
the Aphrodite.